To Burn Rain
by Cieryuu
Summary: "Run. Never come back here." It's a sad life in China during this time-Chaos and uprising armies in each province plague the average people in villages. Lu Xun's family is no exception. However, due to that, he meets a lot of different people, both good and bad. Who will he side with? Who will he fight against? Slight AU, Yaoi
1. You Run Away

_This is thoughts._

"This is speaking."

A small, but surely happy family sat in their dinning room, smiles on each of their faces. They had just finished singing "Happy Birthday" to the youngest there. "Xun dearie, your 5 years old now! Isn't that just amazing? Ahh, time is flying by." The only female in the room stated sweetly. Her oak-wood brown hair was in two long braids, each laced with hydrangea flowers. Her words seemed to only brighten the young one more.

"Now Xun, your a big boy now! That means you'll be able to help your mother when I go to-" The older male was able to say, but was cut off by a loud smacking sound. The man pushed his wife under the table, and dragged his son under it by his feet. "Ouc-" "Shh, I'm sorry, but we need to stay quiet now." The man covered his son's mouth.

"Lu Jun, I know you are here! C'mon, come out and play a game with us." A rugged, obviously intoxicated voice yell from the door. "If 'ya don't come out now, I'll _kill_ y'er loved 'uns."

Lu Jun patted his son on the head. "Take care of your mother." The woman grabbed her husband's arm and pleaded, "Don't go." Lu Jun gave a sad look to his wife, and kissed her once more, before rising from under the table, and to the guest. "I'm on my way there, don't say anymore!"

"Where is daddy going?" Lu Xun questioned softly to his mother. She simply held him close, and hugged him.

Lu Jun and the guest were never seen in the household again.

_One Year and Two Months Later_

"Those damned armies in the north are just getting closer and closer! What should we do?! We don't have nearly enough men to hold them off! We should go further south, like to Jiaozhi Province. That's down south 'nough!" Another lady roared, causing the young boy to flinch and cling to his mother's leg.

"Ms. Ying Mei, I know what you are thinking, but its just...how would we make a living? It would be impossible to just move down there...besides, there is plenty of savages down there with armies of their own...Our Middle Kingdom just is not how it used to be." The women sighed. "And could you tone it down a tad? You're scaring Lu Xun..."

"Ehhh, the 'uns there ain't that bad, I think? I forgot about that, I guess..." Ying Mei sighed. "Damned China is like a Sugoku Puzzle now! Different armies everywhere, not one next to one of the same kind!" Ying Mei physically slouched down, exhausted from thought. "Sugoku Puzzle?" Lu Xun questioned.

"Yeah, just like...You don't know what 'em are, d'ya? I'll show you." Ying Mei walked outside into the house next door, urging Lu Xun to follow her, which he complied after getting his mother's look of approval.

After learning the basics of the game, Lu Xun was able to complete all the Sugoku Book Ying Mei had within two days.

"Your son really is something, ain't he? I neither you nor me could ever get pass the 3rd page! He some prodigy, ain't he?" Ying Mei exclaimed. Lu Xun's mother just laughed. "If he is, I was graced with more than just an angel, I suppose. He's such a good child...never complains. Makes me wonder what I did so great that the heavens decided to grace me with him." The mother smiled sweetly at her child, who was holding the book open to the last two pages, smiling proudly.

It was raining the next day. "Mommy, why does the water fall from those dark clouds?" Lu Xun asked. His mother smiled once more. "That water is called _rain, _Xun. The God of Water pours it down to us from the heavens, so that life can prosper...you could say, that rain brings us life."

"Then what takes away life?" The young boy asked, once more. "War, and chaos takes away life...But you don't have to worry about that. I'm here to protect you from that." The mother smiled, hugging her son.

_But I want to protect you too_, the boy thought. "How can I protect you, Mommy?" The boy looked up to his mother, anxiously. The mother giggled. "Well, I suppose if you do the dishes and wash the clothing, that'll do." Lu Xun stared at his mother questioningly, but smiled and nodded anyway.

Loud crashes and screaming woke the two people up. The light raining turned into a vicious storm, and loud galloping came to be heard in the distance. Throwing spears were lodged into near by houses and blood stained the grounds outside.

"Mommy..."Lu Xun hugged his mother tightly, and she did the same to him. "It'll be fine...don't worry." She said to calm her son, but her voice wavered, obviously in fear. The Lu Xun, though young, was able to pick up on this and looked up to his mother worriedly. The mother looked down at her child, "Don't worry, don't worry..." She said repeatedly, almost as if to comfort herself.

At that moment, a large, thick spear pierced through the rightmost wall of the room. A several men, clothed in yellow and bronze, could be seen after yanking it out, which caused the wall to fracture, and later fall to pieces. "Well 'ya look-y here, ain't it a fair broad in this 'ere den." One of the men, large and hairy exclaimed in a slur. He stepped forward to the two.

The mother, being much taller than her child, was able to fully hide him behind the sight of the men. Whispering softly, "Run. Never come back here." She pushed her son off the bed, and him, never once disobeying his mother, ran. "Oi! We can't have 'ye do that!" One of the other men, this one skinner, though still broad ran after the child, 2 of the others following after him too. The other 3 stayed behind. "Ya' in a lot of trouble for that, lady. 'Nd I was planin' on letting ya' outta 'ere alive. Looks like I'll jus' hav'ta do all I want to today..." The two others grinned creepily. "We'll have to join in too, you know? The more the merrier, after all." One said, while the other just continued to grin. The one that originally stepped foreward and graced the cheek of the mother.

"_I wonder how those pretty chocolate eyes of 'yas gonna look after this..."_

Lu Xun ran. _But is this really the way to protect Mother? _Many thoughts conceded in his head as the scenary slowly turned into still life; many bodies of men and women where plagued onto the group, still and blue-javelins through some of the chests while some where facedown under rubbish and spiked wood. Horse footprints were marked in the mud vividly.

Lu Xun was scared. He had never scene such things before, but somehow he knew-_Mommy is going to end up like one of those people on the ground. _He wasn't strong enough to protect her, not like the way he was. This was the time he was supposed to protect her, but he couldn't. He ran away like coward.

Tears started to fall from his eyes. _Mommy, I'm sorry. _By now, Lu Xun was panting hard, and could run much longer.

"There he his! Go get him!" One of them clad in yellow exclaimed, and another one of them sprinted to Lu Xun, jumping, and pinning him to the ground. His right hand was over Lu Xun's throat."Ya' know, I really hate killing lil' ones, but this is necessary. Cya' kid." He pulled out a dagger from his pocket with his free hand, and was about to stab him in the chest.

"_Get away from me!"_ Out of no where, flames engulfed the man's entire being. The man instantly stood up and dropped the dagger to the side, and was running around. The others looked wide-eyed as their fellow comrade was screaming in agony, slowly burning to death. "W-What..." They were over come with fear, and ran away screaming. "It's a demon!" "The Devil's here!" "We're doomed!" The group yelled as they ran away.

The boy however, was just as stunned. Walking over to the corpse, he stared in fear. However, as he got closer, he felt almost calmed by the flames itself, to the point where he stopped crying. _It's so warm..._ He hesitantly extended his hand to the fire, and touched it. _But...where did it come from? Why isn't my hand turning into his?_ He drew back his hand and put it over his mouth. "Did you...just protect me? Why?" He asked the fire, but did not get an answer. Lu Xun frowned, and looked back to the direction of his house. It was quite a distance away.

"_Run. Never come back here_._"_ His mother's words echoed in his head. _But if I do that, I'll never see her again, will I? _Lu Xun frowned at the sky. "What should I do? Where should I go?" Suddenly, all the screaming came to an end. Calvary noises could be heard nearing in. Lu Xun panicked. _Well, I can't stay here!_ He ran towards what he hoped was the south, remembering Ying Mei's want for them to move down there.

_You left the house that day so me and Mommy could live. Just like the rain came down from their home in the heavens to bring us life. I'm sorry that I couldn't protect her, Daddy...but for both of you, I'll continue to live..._

"Or at least...try to." Tears fell once again from his eyes.

**Ugh, my first actual fanfic and I already think it sucks. Oh well...If you guys like it, I'll continue it...It will eventually have yaoi in it (oh god no, it won't be shota lolol, they will age). The story will be loosely based on Ambition Mode in DW8, and kinda has an Empires feel to it (At least what I remember from Samural Warriors; Empires)...This will be pretty long if I'm motivated enough by you guys to continue it. **

**Major Pairings will probably be: Cao Pi/Lu Xun, Jiang Wei/Zhong Hui, Gan Ning/Ling Tong, Liu Bei/Sun Shangxiang but there will possibly be more.**

**Definately going to be a little Lu Meng/Lu Xun, but mostly in the master-apprentice type. More so in just admiration.**

**- li3**


	2. You Grab a Horse

_This is thoughts._

"This is speaking."

It was cold, even though the rain stopped pouring. The forest outside of the village at night was almost to the point of snowing, in Lu Xun's opinion. _But I can't see the yellow people any more._ It was a safe place in his mind.

Lu Xun shivered, _Why can't it be warmer though? Like that...stuff that saved me._ He really didn't know what to call it yet. He's never seen anything like it before, after all. Looking around, he didn't see anything similar to it either. Just darkness, wood, and grass. Lu Xun frowned, and layed his back against a nearby tree. "What should I do? I can't sleep like this..."

Slouching down, he looked down at what he was wearing. He was still wearing his red and orange silk tunic and pants from when he was sleeping. However, there was a few cuts and bits of mud on them from the previous events. Definitely not warm enough for the harsh wilderness.

_Maybe I can make that stuff come back. _With new determination, he thought of some ways to make the flames come back. "Help me! Warm me!" He said perhaps a bit too loud and enthusiastically. He immediately covered his mouth, and looked around. _No one here yet._ He frowned at his resultless attempt, but decided to keep on. This time, he would just yell at it to come via his mind. _Come back! _This time, he did get a spark of fire.

_But its not enough!_ He tried harder, and as he did, his results improved. Within a few minutes, he ended with a small fire in his hands. _Warm..._

The fire was subsiding quite fast though, much faster than when it was on the man. Lu Xun panicked and tried to blow it, in an attempt to make the fire get bigger, but instead ended up blowing out the flame. Lu Xun frowned. _What did I do wrong? Maybe it needs to be on something other than me, since I din't die like the other man did from it?_

This time, Lu Xun made the fire on the grass, but it was too wet and faded fast. Then, Lu Xun tried it on some sticks he found near the tree he was leaning on previously. _This seems to be working the best. I'll remember that. _Lu Xun smiled at his newly made invention. _It feels so nice!_

Suddenly, Lu Xun's stomach grumbled. Looking up, he could see the sky turning into a light grayish-blue. It was close to morning, which means that it was also close to the time Lu Xun usually ate breakfast. Lu Xun looked around once more. _What could I possibly eat out here?_ Thinking back during the times his mother would go out, she would always come out with various herbs and berries. Lu Xun frowned, trying to sort his mind through what they could be called, but then his stomach grumbled again and he decided to go look for them instead of worrying over the name, when he knows what they look like.

The forest, though decently spacious and had long, nail-like grass coming from the ground, didn't have very many berry bushes. _Where could they be?_ Lu Xun was looking everywhere; on the ground, by the trees, in the trees, a lot of places that they could be found and some that were probably not very wise...

By the time he did find some berries, he the sun was actually out and warming up the land. "Time to dig in!" Taking as many berries at a time without puncturing them in the process, he devoured them to cease his hunger. _What ever they are called, they are just as good as I remember! _Thinking about it again, his mother washed them before feeding them to him. Oh well.

_This looks familiar. _Looking at the ground by the berry bush, there was several flower patches that where different from the other flowers he had seen previously. They had a purplish pink top to them, and a slimmer stem. _Mommy got these from the farmer before, I think. He pulled the flower part away from the stem, right? _After pulling the flower part from several of the stems, he tried one and decided he they tasted good enough to keep them handy.

In the small clearing Lu Xun was in, several deer had started to to come close in on him. "Are you all hungry, like I was?" He said, walking up to the crowd, offering the largest one of which was in the front the herb he picked. The deer nibbled at it, savoring the favor and then poked Lu Xun with its nose, wanting more. "The're over here!" He ran back to the spot that all of the flowers were, and patted it. The deer began to close in and feast by Lu Xun. He smiled. _I guess the forest isn't as bad as everyone made it out to be. Mommy never ever let me play in the forest, saying that it was too dangerous and unsafe. But its actually pretty fun, and I haven't gotten hurt yet!_

Over the course of the next few months, Lu Xun continued to move forward in the forest, not really sure where he was heading, other than the fact that he wanted to go to the south. Stopping by multitudes of small rivers and raiding campers and other, smaller villages along the way, he quickly came to the knowledge that it wasn't just him that was lacking food and water. There were others, many others in the country that needed those supplies and lacked a home, whom found shelter in the forest he was traveling in. He also found out that the forest was named "Hei'an Forest". Lu Xun didn't like how those people said the name though. He has grown to like the forest, and even though he didn't know for a fact whether or not the name was a good or a bad thing, he still took offence to it. _It really is a nice place._

Lu Xun also learned how to make use of the fire better. Although he didn't like to kill the animals of the forest, he still did it when he was tired of eating herbs and berries. Lu Xun thought back to the poor little rabbit that he showed it to, that got too close and burned on accident. He frowned. _I really didn't want to kill it. I didn't know the animals would do the same thing as that man back then did._

Sitting on the ground right by a makeshift fireplace made by himself, Lu Xun stared at the night sky. The way the sky was that night was in such a picturesque way; the stars all arrange in a random, but perfect fashion. Purple dust seemed to dust the black night sky, and over the horizon turned blue. The Moon looked like it was glowing, and the treetops above looked like a frame, the side illuminating in the moonlight. Lu Xun leaned back to the ground, and tried to make shapes out of the star's positions. _We used to do this a lot._

_Flashback_

"Xun, c'mere for a minute." Lu Xun came running outside, as ordered. His mother then pointed up to the sky, and smiled. Lu Xun looked up to the sky, awestruck by it's beauty at night; The glittering stars seemed almost magical. "So pretty...Mom, what are those? And that big thing in the sky? Where's the sun?" The mother laughed, and started to point out and name the various celestial objects shown. "Those tiny, glittering things are called "stars". The moon is what that circle in the middle. At night, the moon replaces the sun, who was tired after the long day and needed rest. You could say that the moon takes the sun's job when it can't, and vise versa. They both govern over us."

Lu Xun was glowing. "Wow..." He looked up at the sky again, taking in its beauty. His mother smiled and started to point out more things, like shapes you can make with the stars called "constellations". "Theres the Little and Big Dippers. Over there are the constellations for Aquarius, and Pisces..." "Wow! How can you pick out all of those?" Lu Xun exclaimed. She just giggled. "My mother was a big fan of them, so I thought I'd teach you some of them. Of course, you could make constellations of your own too. I sure do miss her, though..."

Lu Xun smiled. "Then I'll make a whole book of them for you, Mommy! And then you can look back at it and try to find them in the sky. You can think of both me and grandma that way." She laughed, and they continued to find constellations and make their own ones for the rest of the night.

_End of flashback_

Lu Xun frowned. _I miss Mommy, and our old home. _The forest was nice, but it wasn't quite "home" yet. The deer and other animals were nice company, but they weren't anything close to how his mother was. He couldn't get an actual, vocal reply from the animals like he could with his mother. The animals couldn't comfort him like his mother could either, nor hug or teach him new things. Lu Xun fell asleep with thoughts of his mother in mind.

The next day, Lu Xun awoke to a yelp. Whatever made that noise, was near by. Lu Xun quickly rushed to the scene. Looking cautiously through a bush, he saw a small, red horse that has its right leg wounded by an arrow. It appears that its been there for a few hours. Lu Xun walked over to it, and the horse instantly started to revolt back at him. "I promise I won't try to eat or kill you! I want to save you." The small horse quieted down a bit, seeming to understand what he was saying, but still eyed Lu Xun in a cautious way.

Lu Xun looked at the arrow would, and frowned. He slowly took the arrow out, and as he did the horse whined. Within seconds however, the arrow was removed. "Now to put some of these herbs on it..." In his efforts in raiding the villages, he learn some basic knowledge in medicine. This particular batch of herbs was good for mild to deep wounds from what he saw before he stole them from the doctor. _I have to be proud of what I did to get it, but I could at least use it for good reasons, right? _

The horse was back on its feet within the next week thanks to Lu Xun's care. It was a rather small horse, probably only of one or two years of age, and is most likely still growing. It seemed to have grown found of Lu Xun, and followed it where ever he went like a lost puppy. Lu Xun was very happy to have a companion with him and also has grown attached to the horse. "I should give you a name." Lu Xun exclaimed, looking at the horse.

The horse didn't seem to make any sign that it was against the idea. Lu Xun put his hand over his mouth in though. "Xunxun!" The horse huffed. It didn't like that name at all. Lu Xun frowned. "How about...Rising Sun?" For some reason, when Lu Xun thought of the color of the horse and it's mane, it just instantly makes him think of that fire he can make, but since he still doesn't know the name of it (even though he has seen other people gather around flames like it) he thought of the next warmest think; the sun. The horse seemed to be content with the idea. "Then your name is Rising Sun. Rise for short." The horse let out a proud cry. Lu Xun smiled and hugged his new friend.

After a long week of moving forward, the two came to a halt. Being unable to find food the previous day, they had to stop and scout the new area they moved to. Eventually, they found a small cottage by a river. There was a fire started outside of it with several fish lined up against it, cooking. Lu Xun drooled a little, but quickly wiped it away. "Rise, stay here." Lu Xun whispered, and quickly grabbed the fish.

Over the course of the next two days, the two repeatedly came back to the residence. Whether it be fish, meat or vegetables roasting by the fire, Lu Xun grabbed any and everything that was there. Rise, although she was a horse, she still was all for high class greens.

This time went differently though. When Lu Xun snuck up to grab the fish, he was caught by a rope that was under the mud and dirt, that tightened around his leg and caused him to fall. "Ouch..."

"I never would've expected that my thief was a young boy!" A man said, coming from the cottage. Rise instantly let out a war cry, and was preparing to charge into him, until Lu Xun called him off. The man had a look of pure shock. "A horse? Young boy, you own this here hare?" Lu Xun, looked at the man with a bit of fear. "Y-Yes sir, she's mine. I'm sorry for taking your food for the last few days, I won't-" "Wow, I never expected this at all! How old are'ya, lad?"

Lu Xun thought a little bit. "What month is it now?" The man tilted his head in thought. "August. August 1st." _The day Mommy died was in March. _(Since I could've find the actual date of Lu Xun's birthday, I'm going to make it October 3rd). "I'm still 6 then..."

"Wait, aren't there other people with you? Don't you have parents who can get you food?" Lu Xun frowned and looked down to the dirt and grass that was by his cheek. The man tensed up, and quickly untied Lu Xun from the ropes. "What's your name?"

"Lu Xun."

"My name is Lu did you come from?" Lu Xun frowned again. "Mommy never actually told me the village name...I've been traveling in the forest to go south, since my village was attacked by these yellow people..." Lu Meng didn't really know what to make of this, but nodded away. "All by yourself?" Lu Xun shook his head. "I meet this horse recently that was shot by an arrow and wounded. But I aided her and she's been my friend ever since." Lu Meng blinked, and then laughed. "Never thought I'd ever met a lad that could tame a horse and get it to follow him without assistance. Nor have I have met one that could travel without anyone else for five months in the wilderness."

Lu Xun smiled with pride. Lu Meng grabbed one of the fish that were roasting by the fire. "Want one?" Lu Xun nodded and took the fish from him. "You must be pretty smart to have come this far at that age. How about you and your horse come live with me? I promise to take care of you." Lu Meng asked. Lu Xun looked up to Lu Meng blinking. "Would you really take care of me and Rising Sun? Promise?" Lu Xun really wanted to stay with the man. Even with Rise around, he was still lonely. Lu Meng smiled sincerely. _Just going to take a wild guest that the horse is called "Rising Sun". _"I promise. I swear it to my dignity as a solider." Lu Xun beamed, even though he didn't know what the word "dignity" means, he knew it was a good thing to swear to. "Ok, I'll go with you." Lu Xun replied. Lu Meng smiled. _I think I found myself an apprentice. _

**And that was Chapter 2. What do you guys think? Not as bad of a length this time. So sad cut off the 'at' and heart signs from my signature, but oh well ;_;**

**REVIEW PLEASE, Q_Q**


End file.
